Thursday, June 30, 2016

Working on a painting...

Dear Peeps,

I love working with acrylic paints! I love discovering what one tiny brush stroke of white can add to a painting. I am currently working on a painting, experimenting more with colors, sometimes using a very narrow palette and recently experimenting with bright colors. This painting is not finished but I am liking the way Mr. Guitar Man is turning out. I have never had any art lessons, and I definitely consider myself an amateur painter, but I am just in love with the process of trying to put depth and light and shadow on a flat surface. I will share this painting again when it is finished.



Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Scanning Vintage

Bon Ami ad 1927

My dear friends,

I started the task yesterday of laminating a 1938 catalog page by page. You might ask why I would do that, wondering if it is ruining a perfectly good catalog, but the pages have reached the point where they are literally crumbling when you touch them. This seems to be the only way to preserve the pages so that I can use them as reference in my shop. Anyway, it got me to looking at other old magazines I have. Here are a few images from yesterday.





All of these pages are from Needlecraft April 1927. The outfits are just fun. I think of the roaring 20s! The cloche is a particularly fun hat, I think. They sell pretty quickly, that's for sure!

Quality is such an elusive thing. It is a costly thing! The vintage items I have seem to be so much sturdier than things currently made, unless the current items are expensive and more tailored. Some of the items I have are very old, standing the test of time and lots of wear and tear.

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Sunday, June 26, 2016

A Lovely Face From Long Ago

My dear friends,

Suddenly, I am me. I just am not sure how to even say it, but it is like there is light. I have many areas in my life where I need to improve, including the amount of quiet time I spend with God, but I have such a sense of "everything is okay." Finally.

I have acquired over the last few months literally dozens and dozens of old photos. Many of the ones I have purchased lately are from the 1800s. Small photos. The faces seem to have so much to tell, but they are mostly somber. The attire looks stiff and hot, but very proud and modest. I found a tiny photo the other day, and the girl's face was so faded, you almost could not even make it out, but I scanned it and applied an effect or two in a photo editing app.



Isn't it amazing? If only her name had been written on the back. I wonder, oh I wonder who she was!

The next photo is not old, as I am sure you will instantly know. I wore one of the vintage hats for awhile in the shop on Saturday. It was a fun thing to do, and a hit! I sold 11 hats over the weekend! I rolled my hair up in the back and rocked a pillbox hat.



Isn't it cute?

That is all for now. Jason and I are about to practice our guitars. I have not really practiced in days. Ugh. I should be practicing 5 hours a day to get to 10,000 hours!! You know they say 10,000 hours means mastery!

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Walk With Me

Remember when we used to walk together through the garden? That was fun. Now let's walk outside the shop and look at something sweet.



We are back in the dressing room in the caboose. We can see out towards the door.



Look! I have been collecting letters randomly, intending to say VINTAGE. My collection is complete and hanging over the doorway in the center of the caboose. It is for safety as much as anything. Tall people need to watch their heads in the caboose.



I love this new hat. I have recently acquired a lot of hats from an estate. This is like a bonnet, and it reminds me of Little House on the Prairie.





That is a heavy, heavy door latch! I keep a sign outside letting people know that they have to turn the doorknob really hard to come inside.



My little "sink" and garden area. I have an old Watts pottery bowl that I use to wash my hands. And I have garden supplies. And a few of the items are for sale!

Now, look at this!



Look out over the railing from the platform. It's the trolley next door.

The caboose used to be a vital part of the train, allowing crew a place to look out in front of and behind the train. My caboose is a standard cupola. There would have been high seating for the crew to see out the windows in the cupola. Anyway, there is an old trolley next to my caboose. Uh, it looks like someone had tea in there and left their teacup behind.





Come on and let's go down the steps. I want to show you something. On the way down, we pass by my flower box attached to the railing. And be careful on the steps.

Look what I found.



When I peered down over the railing this morning I saw a yellow bloom. It's a sunflower in my garden. And I did not plant it. Life is like that. There are sometimes really sweet things in places we don't expect.

Enjoy this day!

Lynn

Friday, June 24, 2016

Because It Is Good To Smile

I just love this little sweet face.



Addie. 5 months. She is so sweet! She is very quiet, and when you speak to her she sometimes turns her little face away like she is really shy. She and her brother Grey remind me so much of my Joe when he was little, though Addie looks a lot like her mama.

Stay tuned for pictures of some amazing vintage hats that I purchased today from an estate.

Enjoy this day.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

A Huge Chapter Closes

The weight on my shoulders feels like the weight of the world. And it is not the weight of victory. It feels like the weight of a sea of tears. Today the old house goes on the market. The Carpenter and I truly built what we had from scratch. We worked hard, both of us.

I hate divorce. I hate broken homes. I mourn the very frail person I had become after all those years of trying to live like a soldier. I craved kindness and gentleness. And that frailty led me into the huge mistake of a second marriage, probably the darkest chapter in my life, but I still look back and know that everything I did, I did with what I believed were good intentions.

I spent 14 years of my marriage to the Carpenter with no clothes dryer. Was it hard? Yes. But he helped wash clothes and there were many sweet days hanging clothes out on the line while my boys played in the yard. I can see the sunshine on their golden hair. I can hear them laughing and running around. Then I had my little dark-headed boy. We had so many meals together around that old enamel top table. I finally got my little princess. I dressed her up like a princess and we raised bunnies. The years rolled on. All in all, the carpenter and I occupied that home together for 23 years. There were many, many sweet memories for me, mostly centered around putting my heart into raising my children and caring for my garden and my home. But one day I broke, beyond repair, after one too many harsh words.

People, treat those you love the way you would treat them if they were not yours and you wanted to have them. That is all.

If you are crying at all, so am I. It is probably all that I will do today as I work through these feelings.

Now, for the positive side of things. I am learning to be happy. I have healthy boundaries now. I am finally feeling like Lynn again. Even my mom and my sister say I seem more like myself than I have in decades. I believe all of my children are finally healing. I have two beautiful grandchildren and five beautiful step-grandchildren. I went out and purchased the Element, something that I wanted! Me!

I have developed a deep and abiding friendship with my Jason, whom I love very much. I am treated with such respect and kindness, and anything creative that I want to do, it is with great support and blessing on his part. And let me add, my finding happiness has happened within myself and not by trying to find a man in my life. I went to Jason for guitar lessons and found such a dear friend! He did a huge part of the work to get me in this current shop that I have, and he teaches me tirelessly as far as my guitar is concerned.

I think I just needed to get that off of my chest. It hurts likes the dickens to see that house go up for sale, to realize that it is a chapter that will be forever closed. I love that little phrase, long days and short years. That is truly what I lived in that house. Remember the Mulberry tree? Remember the homeschooling adventures with Michaela? Remember when I thought Joseph would never learn to read? Remember the year of the dollhouse? Now it will be a process of throwing away items from the house and selling what can be sold and knowing that I will never walk those wooden floors again, or dance on wet soapy rags to clean the kitchen floor, or sit on the front steps and drink tea. I cry long and hard for my babies because they ended up with exactly what I never wanted them to have, a broken home. But they all have grit, they are all loved by both of their parents, and they all love their parents and each other. I think we are all going to be OK.

On that note, I will share my most recent painting, and attempt at something more abstract. I'm trying to work more with colors and shapes. Also, here is my little work desk in my sweet happy place, my shop. And with that, my lunch break is over and I better get busy with my real work.





Enjoy this day.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Chrystal Hardt

I do not want to lose this link. So here it is. This artist came into the shop. Love her work! Chrystal Hardt

Sidetracked Vintage

The shop is so pretty. It is my happy place.

















Enjoy this day.

Lynn

Monday, June 20, 2016

Music, Music Everywhere -- Blues Music in Durham

My dear peeps,

Dang. I sort of feel like something is missing sometimes, and I guess this is it. I miss my peeps. Tumblr is a nice platform for visual but not really easy to interact with others. The big pain with blogging for me right now is putting pictures on the posts. No desktop. Just the iPad, though Jason says I can use his anytime. But I just hate using other people's stuff. You know? It is his. I guess I'll figure out a way to do it quickly. My life is going by too fast to spend two hours putting up a blog post. oh, you all are worth it but there are not enough hours in the day!!

I have enjoyed so much wonderful music lately. What a privilege to get to see Frazey Ford earlier in the week at Motorco. She is one of my favorites!! Amazing songwriter and very one-of-a-kind voice. She's a soulful singer. I just love her!




Right on the heels of that we saw (at the Blue Note Grill) Ruthie Foster, another wonderful performer, a woman who sings the blues! She actually has a strong gospel influence in her music as well. I am only scratching the surface with my descriptions, so please forgive me.



A few weeks ago Jason and I performed at a benefit to raise money for Susan G. Komen. A friend of ours has had stage IV breast cancer for over 6 years. She has an attitude that just cannot be beat. And a husband who is just absolutely her biggest support and friend. The Komen foundation had a lot to do with one of the meds that has worked so well for her. Her husband, who has taken some lessons from Jason, also played and sang with us. Jason and I played Chemical Vessel, a song that I wrote; Old Fashioned Morphine, a great song by another of my favorites, Jolie Holland; and, 4 and 20 Blues, a great blues song that Redbird does. I sang the first two and then Jason sang the third while I sang backup. When our friend Mike played with us we did Don't Be Cruel by Elvis, wherein I did the background be-bops; we did Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly, and Mike sang that; and then, at Mike's request, I sang Let It Be Me by the Everly Brothers. It is a song that Mike meant for his wife. It was a great evening!





I really believe it went well. Onward and upward!

Finally, we saw Tony Joe White together for the second time. The first time we saw him I had just started playing guitar. Tony Joe has a sexy voice going on people! He's a great guitar player and performer. We just thoroughly enjoyed it all. Now I have new guitar fever. Ha ha.



Enough for today. Stay tuned for the latest pictures of Sidetracked.

Enjoy this day.